It helps wash the hateful policies of a racist and homophobic president and his followers, gives them a false platform to be a victim.

Yes, they are going to try like hell to paint themselves as victims because of this, but they were already doing that. To me, it really doesn't change anything about the situation we are in. All it did is make MAGA people talk about Smollett for a few days instead of their usual shtick of talking about Antifa or Venezuela or whatever. The fact that the right will try to use this incident says a lot about them, honestly. Instead of seeing a messed up guy looking for attention they will claim to see a reverse racist Antifa supersoldier or some stupid crap. The people using this incident to paint themselves as victims are not making good faith arguments. They are full of [expletive] and they know it. So who cares what they say.

While he is surely still basking in the glow of his Oscar win from Monday night, Spike Lee also received a higher honor than the Oscar committee could ever bestow upon him. The Academy of White People’s Arts and Sciences honored Lee with a distinct commendation lavished upon countless other African American luminaries:

Spike Lee is a black racist.

During his acceptance speech for his long-overdue Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Spike Lee invoked the history of slavery and racism in America, pleading with the audience to “be on the right side of history” and “make the moral choice between love and hate.”

“Four hundred years ago, our ancestors were stolen from mother Africa and brought to Jamestown Virginia, enslaved,” said Lee. “Before the world tonight, I give praise to my ancestors who built our country, along with the genocide of our native people.”

Strangely, but not unsurprisingly, many white people found Spike Lee’s speech to be “problematic,” which is a neoliberal word defined as “making one feel uncomfortable even though there’s technically nothing wrong with it.” Lee’s sheer mention of America’s sordid past was deemed racist by people who put the white character from Green Book right up there with freedom fighters like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Miss Daisy’s driver.

I shouldn't be surprised by these stats at this point, but wow:

Quote:

A 2016 Rasmussen poll found that two-thirds of whites believed Obama made racism worse during his presidency. Currently, only 23 percent of whites have a favorable opinion of Colin Kaepernick, which is slightly lower than their current approval of Malcolm X (28 percent), according to a January 2019 Ipsos poll.

WTF did Obama do to make racism worse? He only talked about race a handful of times in 8 years.

WTF did Obama do to make racism worse? He only talked about race a handful of times in 8 years.

Obama won two presidential elections. That was enough.

Additionally, the statement that "race relations were great until black person did x" is one of the hoariest of arguments about race relations. Insert "talked back to the master," "began meeting in private," "became free," "tried to vote," "learned to read," "tried to buy a farm," "stayed on the sidewalk when we passed," "came into the store to buy this dress," "spoke frankly to me," "bought a gun," "listened to those troublemakers from up North," "listened to Communists," "sat in the front of the bus," "entered the restaurant," "looked in my eyes when talking to me," "applied for a job in the factory," "moved into the neighborhood."

I was reading a New Yorker essay about Marlin Luther King from fifty years ago that mentioned a white Christian coming up King to complain that race relations had been improving until he started protesting.

The intellectual move is this: "I wasn't a racist, but black people made me racist."

Obama was supposed to prove that 1) America is the land of opportunity, and 2) when black people get that opportunity, they fail. His success pretty much ruined the whole narrative.

He was supposed to be too dark to win, too liberal to win, have too funny a name to win, and to be too stupid to win--hence all the references to conspiracies to help him win, to being propped up by affirmative action, to having his memoir ghostwritten by Bill Ayres, to allegedly referring to people as 'whitey,' to reading from teleprompters because he's supposedly too stupid to think on his feet. (What was Trump's accusation about Spike Lee recently? That he was reading from a teleprompter.)

I think with respect to the Spike Lee speech, this is that "white fragility" people have been talking about lately. Hearing a black man talk about our country's racist past indirectly reminds white people of their privilege. Reminding them of that is mean and "reverse racist", I guess.

When a police officer arrived, he found Professor Early waiting for his wife in the parking lot and asked him for an explanation of why he was there." As Mrs. Early and their daughters walked up, Professor Early was standing with his hands up. Mrs. Early accused the officer of harassing her husband because of his race.

When a police officer arrived, he found Professor Early waiting for his wife in the parking lot and asked him for an explanation of why he was there." As Mrs. Early and their daughters walked up, Professor Early was standing with his hands up. Mrs. Early accused the officer of harassing her husband because of his race.

I remember that. That was big news. Years later, my two brothers went to one of the stores out there, and my older brother told my twin "Look over there." They both turned to look, and a mall cop dove behind some clothes. He'd been tailing them throughout the entire store.